The Mediwitch’s Apprentice
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Set in McGonagall's, Pomfrey's and Hooch's sixth Hogwarts year. Poppy Pomfrey is her grandmother Theresa's apprentice, and who would be better to practise difficult diagnostic spells on than her ill friends? Completely AU, sick!Minerva, sick!Rolanda


**The Mediwitch's Apprentice**

Poppy was sitting in a comfortable chair in the mostly empty common room, trying to concentrate on her homework, muttering to herself in annoyance. From time to time, her eyes wandered over to one of her two best friends, Minerva, who was lying on one of the comfortable sofas with one arm laid over her eyes to shade them from the not even so bright light.

The day before had been Poppy's birthday, and Minerva and Rolanda, who were sixth-year Gryffindors just like herself, had insisted on holding a birthday party in their dormitory that involved an astonishing number of bottles with butterbeer. Poppy had no idea how her two friends had managed to bring that many bottles into the castle, but she wasn't one to drink and had contented herself to take small sips from two glasses of the liquid over the whole evening. Her two friends, however, were both having a hangover. Rolanda hadn't even emerged from her bed yet, which was nothing abnormal since she loved to sleep in on the weekends, but Poppy was sure she had to have a hangover as well.

"Minnie, are you sure you don't want me to take you to Granny?" Poppy queried in concern as she noticed that her friend's face was scrunched in pain.

"I am sure," Minerva replied firmly, slightly raising her arm from her eyes to throw Poppy a killing glance. There was no way she'd go to the resident Mediwitch with a hangover. Poppy's grandmother, Theresa Pomfrey, was a very kind and understanding witch, but as appealing as a potion for her splitting headache seemed to Minerva, she'd rather stay where she was. Everyone else had gone to Hogsmeade for the day and couldn't ridicule her anyway.

"With a hangover potion you'd feel better in a blink," Poppy said softly, causing Minerva to turn towards the wall and curl up tightly.

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Rolanda groaned as she opened her eyes just a tiny little bit to close them again instantly. '_Oh, why did I drink so much butterbeer?_' she thought. '_How could I be so stupid? This is the worst hangover I've ever had_.' Her eyes hurt, her head seemed to be going to explode soon, her ears felt strangely foggy, and even her mouth felt fussy and sore from the alcohol. She lay back, wondering where her friends were. '_Poppy is going to say, "I told you not to drink so much" and she and Minnie will laugh if they see me like that_,' she thought, deciding to remain in bed until she felt better.

Unfortunately, she couldn't pull through with the plan much longer. Not only did she feel the urgent need to use the toilet, but her mouth and throat became so dry and sore that she knew she had to go and get something to drink. She slowly dragged herself out of her bed, which suddenly seemed to be the most comfortable place in the whole world. '_Oh no_,' she groaned, tightly holding to the wall as the room began to turn around in a quick pace. '_Why do people pay money to go on a roller coaster if it only needs a few bottles of butterbeer to feel like being on one?_' she mused as she slowly dragged herself out of the dormitory, holding on to the wall the entire time.

Finally reaching the bathroom, she relieved herself, before she dragged herself to the sink and drank some water. '_Who is that? Is that me?_' she thought as she glanced into the mirror. The face in front of her had the colour of her bed sheets, it had dark rings under the half-open eyes, hair was sweaty and strangely sticking to the forehead and cheeks. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to clean you just a little bit," she said to the face, realising that her voice was very hoarse. '_I'll never ever drink so much again_,' she promised herself as she threw a handful of cold water into the face, before she slowly left the bathroom.

'_Poppy and Minerva will so laugh if they're still here_,' she thought as she tumbled down the steps to the common room to look for her best friends.

"Hi Minnie, where's Poppy?" she croaked as she let herself sink on an empty sofa, glad to be able to lie down again.

"She went to the Great Hall for lunch," Minerva replied, slowly turning around. "Oh my God, Rolanda, are you all right? You look even worse than I feel."

"Just horrible," Rolanda mumbled. "I should have stayed in bed; it's so cold here."

"Cold?" Minerva threw her a worried look, noticing a violent shiver run through her body. Realising that her friend was much worse off than herself, she slowly sat up and waited for the dizziness to pass, before she fetched a blanket from one of the cupboards, gently tucking the girl in.

"Thank you, Minnie," Rolanda mumbled as Minerva returned to her sofa and lay down again.

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After a hurriedly eaten lunch, which was boring without her friends, Poppy walked to the hospital wing to speak with her grandmother.

"Hello Poppy, what brings you here on this fine day?" Theresa asked in surprise, knowing that nearly everyone from third year onwards had gone to Hogsmeade.

"Minnie and Rolanda are having hangovers," Poppy said in annoyance, rolling her eyes, and only when the Mediwitch began to laugh, did a small smile appear on her face, too. "What's so funny about that?" she asked indignantly. "We could have had a wonderful day at Hogsmeade or on the grounds, or we could..." She slowly trailed off, not wanting to think about homework at the moment.

"Poppy, calm down," Theresa said, smiling. "If you're bored and lonely, you know that I can give you a Healing lesson at anytime. You still need to practise to take the Dummy's temperature properly, and there..."

"Yes, I know!" Poppy interrupted her grandmother impatiently. As adept as she was at Healing spells, this was one spell she just couldn't manage yet. "Could you perhaps give me a hangover potion for them, please?" she begged with a puppy dog look.

Theresa sighed. "Very well; however, you can only give it to them if you're sure they have a hangover and aren't suffering from anything else."

Poppy rolled her eyes. "I don't know how many bottles of butterbeer they drank, but it's obvious, at least with Minnie. Rolanda hasn't even made it out of her bed yet."

"You didn't drink any, although it was your birthday?" Theresa queried as she handed Poppy two phials, knowing that she could trust her granddaughter and apprentice.

"Only one bottle over the whole evening. I'm fine," Poppy replied smugly. She gratefully accepted the phials and returned to the common room.

HP

"Oh, Rola, rise and shine. Good morning!" Poppy said brightly as she approached her friends. "Look, I brought you a hangover potion."

"Oh Poppy, you're the best," Minerva said gratefully as she slowly sat up and took the phial from her friend. "Rolanda seems to be much worse off than I," she informed her.

"She looks even worse than you," Poppy confirmed. "Better now?"

"Ah, much better," Minerva replied, sighing in relief as she slowly felt the headache recede.

"Rola, sit up so you can take the potion," Poppy said softly as she stepped over to her friend.

"Hi Poppy," Rolanda said weakly, reaching for Poppy's arms to have her friend help her sit up.

"Oh my, Rola, are you ill?" Poppy asked terrified as she felt the heat radiating from her friend's body and glimpsed into Rolanda's half-open eyes that looked glassy and sick.

"Too much alcohol, feel horrible," Rolanda croaked, leaning gratefully into the cold touch as Poppy placed her hand on Rolanda's forehead.

"You're burning up, Rola. You must be sick on top of your hangover," Poppy said worriedly, placing the phial on a nearby table. "Wait a moment, I'm going to check on you." Poppy hurried back to the dormitory to fetch her medical bag. Since she wasn't allowed to cast spells on anyone except for the Dummy and her grandmother yet, she had a Muggle medical bag, which she used to check on her friends when they were sick, even if it was just to determine if she had to send them to Theresa.

"No, give me the hangover potion first," Rolanda croaked as she saw the blue bag in Poppy's hand.

"No, I need to check on you first. If you're ill, you can't have the potion," Poppy replied calmly, sticking a thermometer under her friend's tongue as soon as she opened her mouth to protest.

While they were waiting for the reading, Poppy let her cool fingers wander around her friend's neck. "Everything is swollen here. Is your throat very sore?"

Rolanda gave her a weak nod. "It could be strep throat or tonsillitis then," Poppy said thoughtfully and gratefully took the wet towel Minerva handed her. "Thank you, Minnie. Are you feeling better now?" she queried, while she proceeded to wipe her friend's flushed face.

"I'm fine, Poppy, thank you so much for the potion," Minerva replied, smiling.

"Oh no! Rola, you have a very high fever," Poppy said alarmed as she glanced at the digital display of the thermometer. "I'm going to fetch Granny."

"Kay," Rolanda mumbled, feeling too bad to even protest. "Oh no, a lion. Why is a lion here in the common room. Help!"

"Easy Rola, it's not a lion, it's me," Minerva replied soothingly as she sat on the edge of the sofa and bathed her friend's face with the cool towel. "You're delirious, Rola. Everything is all right."

"Kay," Rolanda mumbled again as she unconsciously leaned into the cold touch, feeling very reassured by the presence of her other best friend.

A few minutes later, Theresa bustled into the room, followed closely by Poppy. "You were right, Poppy. Tonsilitis," the old Mediwitch diagnosed. "Rolanda, I'm going to take me with me."

"No, please," Rolanda reached for Theresa's cool arm. "Please let me stay here. It's not contagious, is it? Poppy can look after me."

Theresa sighed. "Well, if you don't mind Poppy practising spells on you, only diagnostic spells that can't do any harm of course, no Healing spells, you may stay in your dormitory," she gave in, before she spelled two potions straight into the girl's system.

"Thank you so much, Madam Pomfrey. That's much better now. Of course I trust Poppy to practise her spells on me," the girl smirked.

"Always confirm your results by Muggle means," Theresa instructed Poppy in a stern voice. "I'll come by again tomorrow morning. Should her fever exceed forty (104) degrees, you must call me immediately." With that she observed as Poppy and Minerva gently helped their friend back to the dormitory and settled her into bed, before she retreated to the hospital wing.

"Well, try to sleep for a while, Rola," Poppy said softly, carefully adjusting a cold towel to her friend's forehead.

Rolanda merely nodded and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep within seconds.

HP

"Minnie, let's go to the common room and do our homework," Poppy said in determination and placed a charm on Rolanda that would alert her if her friend woke up or was in trouble.

"Charms homework you mean?" Minerva smirked. "I already finished that yesterday, while you had your Healing lesson with your granny.

"Oh well, then you can copy your homework and try to learn a charm to make the copy look like Rola's handwriting," Poppy said annoyed as she settled down with her homework.

"Poppy, are you having a hangover as well?" Minerva chuckled. "Why would I try to find a Charm? I can easily transfigure the copy into a parchment with Rola's writing. Transfiguration is so much easier!"

"Well, whatever you do, do it," Poppy replied absently as she concentrated on her essay on how to charm the Great Hall to have snow fall from the walls onto fake Christmas trees without falling down onto the floor. "Stupid thing to do in summer," she muttered in displeasure, feverishly scribbling on her parchment.

She was just writing the last sentence when the alarm she had placed on Rolanda alerted her to the fact that her friend was waking up. "Rola is waking up," she told Minerva, and both girls hurried back to their dormitory.

"Hi sleepy head, how're you feeling?"

"Cold and hot, and my throat feels as if I had swallowed a Snitch that was stuck somewhere," Rolanda groaned, gratefully leaning into the cold touch when Poppy felt her forehead.

"Your potions seem to have worn off," she stated. "I didn't even notice how fast time passed. Let me quickly check on you, and then I'll give you the next dose." With that she tried to stick a thermometer into her friend's mouth, appalled when Rolanda pulled away and pressed her lips shut.

"You promised to try your spells," she complained hoarsely.

"Not only spells," Poppy replied sternly, shaking her head. "Now open up." She forced the glassy thing into Rolanda's mouth and pulled her wand, carefully pointing it at the girl's head.

A red '42.3' (108) emerged from the tip of her wand, causing Minerva to jump up from the edge of the bed.

"I'm going to call your granny," she shouted, already dashing for the door.

"No Minnie, calm down. That was wrong," Poppy said calmingly, sighing in exasperation at herself. "I just don't get this spell right. Look, now it's five degrees lower." She tried a few more times, but each time the result was different.

"Don't give me such a fright, Poppy!" Minerva said angrily. "And you're going to become your granny's successor in a year's time?" She critically eyed her friend, who was now carefully waving her wand over the girl.

"Yes Minnie; this is one of the most difficult spells, but I'll make sure to practise it on Rolanda and you," Poppy replied absently as she pulled the thermometer from Rolanda's lips, sighing in relief as she saw it was exactly the value she had gotten three times out of her ten attempts.

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Poppy and Minerva spent the rest of the weekend looking after their sick friend, and on Monday morning, Rolanda woke up feeling much better. "Thank you for nursing me back to health, Poppy. I feel fine. May I go to classes, Healer?"

Poppy nodded contentedly. "You're much better. However, you're still running a slight temperature, so I'm afraid I have to keep you in bed for another day..."

"And I tell you now I'm not going to stay in bed and leave all the fun with Dumbledore to the two of you," Rolanda hissed, angrily sitting up.

"You should listen to Poppy, Rolanda. Here is your school bag by the way. Your homework is all finished," Minerva told her. "Shall I hand it in for you?"

Poppy sighed in annoyance. "Very well then, if you can't manage to keep your overflowing energy at bay, be my guest and attend your morning classes, although I'm sceptical if you'll manage to impress Dumbledore by a charming look coming from your glassy eyes. Anyway, I want to check on you again at lunchtime, and if you're worse, I'll take you to the hospital wing."

"I can imagine that Poppy is going to become a much scarier Mediwitch than her granny," Minerva chuckled.

"Well, she first has to catch me. Let's go and have breakfast," Rolanda replied and scrambled out of bed, sprinting towards the door, without even bothering to take her school bag with her.

Seconds later, Minerva was rolling over the floor, laughing. "She... she... didn't... even... notice.... that I transfigured her pyjamas to look as if she was a squirrel," Minerva pressed out.

"Well, I'm not going to run after her to inform her. She'll realise the instant she enters the Great Hall," Poppy replied dryly, shaking her head in annoyance as they watched a human size squirrel ran out of the dormitory.

**The End**

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_I wrote this for a friend, who wanted a sick!Rolanda story for her birthday, but I thought some of you might like it as well..._

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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